POWER SYSTEM (P.

S) PLANNING
G.Gope Polytechnic of Namibia 2010

Introduction
Energy supply, and in particular electricity has become so basic to the world economy such that electricity indices are used to express the economic development of countries e.g consumption or production of electricity per capita, per capita electricity consumption e.t.c However , electricity supply has a special characteristic which make the service unique as compared to the supply of other services and energy forms.
The end product has to be delivered instantaneously and automatically upon the customers demand

The absence of storage facilities in conventional power system grids requires careful scheduling and planning as:

SUPPLY = DEMAND + LOSSES

Insufficient capacity (Shortage) or excessive capacity (idle capacity) have negative effects on the electric utility and economy as a whole due to the commitment of large resources. The inter-relation between electricity supply and economic and social factors imposes labour, environmental ,financial and other constraints (including political) on the problem of electricity supply.

Power System Planning

Power system planning is part of a more general problem, that of energy and economic development planning. Its objective is therefore to determine a minimum cost strategy for long-range expansion planning of generation, transmission and distribution systems which are adequate to supply the load forecast within a set of technical ,economic and political constraints.

Statutory Requirements
The generation , transmission ,distribution and supply of electrical energy in any country is usually governed by laws passed by governments (e.g. GRN) or regulations passed by regulators (e.g. E.C.B). These regulations include stating that the power supplied should be at a specified voltage within certain limits and also the frequency must be within certain limits. Utility engineers establish operating conditions (procedures) within which to work based on the legal requirements. The statutory requirements are for steady state conditions and no absolute requirements can be established for fault conditions. In distribution systems certain operating conditions of industrial plant can interfere with the ability of a distribution system to offer an acceptable supply to others. The supply utility therefore normally sets requirements to industrial plants that are connected to the system.

Electricity Act 2000

In the case of Namibia the Electricity Act, 2000 and the Operating Procedures from the utility (NamPower) govern the supply of electricity. The Electricity Act Establishes the E.C.B (Regulator) through the Administrative Regulations Sets the Technical Regulations

Other Requirements
There are other requirements that can be imposed by an electricity supplier on the industrial distribution system in order to limit adverse influence on other customers who are connected at the same point. Typically these include: Acceptable voltage fluctuations or flicker Voltage unbalance Rate of switching of certain loads Harmonic Distortion Permissible Voltage Dip on Motor Starting

STEPS IN P.S PLANNING

Study of the electric load forecast into the future (typically 5-30 years) Evaluation of the energy resources available in the future for electricity generation and the foreseeable trends in technical and economic developments. Evaluation of the economic and technical characteristic of the existing system of generating units and of plants that can be considered as potential units of system expansion. These characteristics include capital investment cost, fuel cost, O&M, efficiencies, construction times ,e.t.c Determination of the technical and cost characteristic of the plants available for expansion. Determination of economic and technical parameters for appraising projects which are used in making decisions. Selection of procedure to determine the optimal expansion strategy within the imposed constraints Qualitative review of the results to estimate the vialibily of the proposed solution.

Namibias Perspective

Summary
The determination of most of these data must take into account the present and future economic and technical environment within which the electric sector is expected to operate. The energy policy of the country can detect the available resources, fuel prices ,the economic development policies affects demand forecast, interest ,inflation rates and the acceptable system reliability. Because of the many variables involved in power system planning many mathematical models have been developed by planners in order to tackle the problem in a systematic way.